The Dark Siders Chronicles

It was not pleasant in the lair of the Sith. The dark abode wasn't usually a happy place, but it was worse than usual. The three occupants were involved in a shouting match that was getting louder and louder.

"Who was the kreffin' idiot who got him involved?" Ariel yelled, gesturing at Darth Syn. The Sith Knight was sitting on the couch. Ariel herself had told him to meet the two Sith ladies to discuss plans for the dark attacks. And - apparently - to shout at him. "Sithspit, we don't need him around!" she railed.

Darth Syn looked up from where he was lounging on the couch. "My dear, you're certainly moody today."

"She's been that way for months," Geri complained, juggling her head. "And she ate all my chocolate-covered tarantulas!" The girl frowned unhappily. "Even the big blue one!"

Darth Syn raised an eyebrow. "Trying to put on some more pounds?" he asked Ariel. "Those things can be bad for your health."

With a snarl, Ariel turned from the pair, trying to compose herself. She ran her fingers through her just-below-shoulder-length hair before turning back to them. The loose shirt she had on fluttered in the breeze she made by her rapid turn. "What we need to do," she hissed, "is destroy those Senshi."

"The Sailor Jedi aren't that easy to destroy. With those new attacks, there's no telling what they can do."

Ariel threw a vase at him that Darth Syn caught it easily. "There's no telling what you might do," he chided her. "Temper, temper."

Ariel frowned at him. "We can destroy them. All we need to do is get one or more of them to turn an attack on the others. The dark attacks are much stronger than anything else they have. There won't be anything they can do against them. While the others are gasping about one of their own fallen, we'll move in and destroy them."

Darth Syn counted up on his fingers. "But aren't there six others with this kind of attack? Couldn't they use them to block?"

She shook her head. "They won't. Apparently," she laughed harshly, "they are afraid of their own power. Instead of embracing it, they hide it away in dark corners. That's why they won't be able to stand against us in the end. They won't use the fullness of their power."

There was silence for a while before Darth Syn spoke again. "What if your plan fails?"

"Then we escape. But it won't fail." Something flashed dangerously in Ariel's red and yellow eyes. "This time, I won't fail."

"I think we need to tell them," Rene announced. "This isn't something we have a right to keep to ourselves. It could affect all of the other senshi!"

Souru shook his head. "I don't think so. I think we should just let it be."

I think they already know, Koumi thought quietly. Priire does, and so does Xarae. They know.

"They're a special case," Souru argued. "They've been here before. They have... some kind of connection."

A little blue head stuck itself in the door. "We're going skiing. Everyone one is! You wanna come?" Aisu grinned hopefully. "See, Kyoko wanted to go skiing and I wanted to go too so everyone said that we were going to go to the pole and go skiing! And I got some new skis and they are so cute and I want to go try them out. But Priire doesn't want to come, but I asked her reeeeal nice and she said..."

Rene held up her hands. "We're coming, Aisu! We're coming!"

"I hate being cold," Priire complained. "I don't like it!"

Yuki, on the other hand, was literally in her element. She was having more fun than she'd had in a long time. Chikako and Annika were busy making snowpeople. Starr, Pinku, and UsaNeko were digging tunnels in the snow and making little kitten-sized forts.

"This is fun!" Rene shouted happily as she slid down an embankment to where Souru and Koumi were standing. "Whee!"

Koumi grinned and helped the girl out of the snow. She's right. It is fun!

Just as the dark-haired senshi thought those words, it became a lot less fun. Sailor Sith Ayameru appeared on a snowbank just in front of Darth Syn and Iyagaru. "Having fun?" the Alpha Sith growled.

Souru put his arm out in front of Koumi and Rene. "Don't do this," he warned the Sith.

"Is the little knight afraid we might hurt his family?" Ayameru rolled her eyes. "Poor, dark knight."

Closing her eyes, Koumi transformed into Sailor Kessel. Rene followed her lead. "We don't want to hurt you," Dantooine said. "But we can if we really need to." She looked determined.

"Like we should be afraid of you," Ariel laughed. "You're just like us; you've got the Dark Side within you. It's just waiting for you to let it free. Otherwise, it will eat away at your soul until you're nothing but blackness." She shrugged. "But then, it's your life."

Beside her, Darth Syn spoke up. "Who's really the enemy here?" He swirled a small vortex of the dark side with his finger, creating miniature pictures between the Sith and the Senshi. "Honestly now. Admittedly, we use the Dark Side for evil and nefarious purposes, but we do so openly." He swirled a picture of Corellian Knight using his dark side attack. "You hide your Darkness away, hoping no one else will notice your little 'mistake'. Wishing that it would just go away... while instead it grows deeper inside of you." He swirled the picture again to Corellian Knight transforming and wiping out a city block. "Ooo, good one, protector."

Hatred swelled up inside of Corellian Knight. Areil's next silky words just barely registered through the blind rage he was working himself into. "So if you want to destroy the darkness, you need to work from the inside out. The senshi are the real source of darkness. If you clear them out, then you can focus on the real target."

No! Kessel shouted.

Dantooine nodded. An odd feeling came over her, and she held out her hands. "Injustice..."

"Locked..." Kessel echoed. The pair started their Dark Sider attacks, aiming for the Sailor Sith.

"Evil!" Iyagaru yelled, pointing at the girls. "Bad! Bad! Bad!"

That was the last straw for the handsome knight. Turing on his two friends, he knelt and shouted, "Hurting... Hate... ENTRAPMENT!" The net formed between his fingers like lightning, leaping to surround Kessel and Dantooine.

Kessel's breath gurgled in her throat as she tried to catch her breath. It seemed impossible; the dark net around her body was eating into more than her flesh - it was devouring her spirit. Her head lolled back as she made thick, choking noises.

Next to the dark-haired girl, Dantooine was in similar straits. Her arm was twisted under her body at an awkward angle, and her eyes were closed. What little breath she could catch was shallow and unhelpful to her survival.

Corellian Knight hadn't moved from where he'd thrown the attack. He had his eyes closed and his head resting on clasped hands. The man was so hurt at what he'd done that he was shaking all over. As he knelt there, a faint glow came from his body and channeled to a spot in front of his. As the glow grew, it formed into a light gray mask. He reached out his hand to it.

The other senshi were unmindful of this, trying to figure out how to save Kessel and Dantooine.

"Asteroid!" Sailor Vjun called. "Your crystal!"

The Dark Sailor shook her head. "It's not strong enough."

The redhead motioned to her. "Come here. I've got an idea."

When she got over there, Asteroid held out the Redemption Crystal. Vjun put her hands over Asteroid's. Being the original owner of the Redemption Crystal, Vjun could still call on its power. As the two combined their strengths, the crystal glowed stronger than ever. "Redemption Crystal Power!" the pair shouted, sending a wide beam over the fallen senshi.

The combined power did the trick. Vjun and Asteroid fell back as the power of redemption tore away the net that darkness had formed.

Meanwhile, Sailor Yavin turned on Sailor Sith Ayameru. "You corrupted one of our strongest knights! For that, you must pay!" She raised her hands to attack, but Iridonia stopped her.

"No... don't hurt her!" the dark-haired senshi shouted.

"Are you out of your mind??" Yavin hissed. "She is the bad guy!"

Iridonia shook her head. "But the child in her womb did nothing to deserve such a fate as you would give her."

Yavin's eyes went wide. "What?"

From behind the pair, a previously unseen snowman's eyes glinted yellow. Ayameru? Pregnant? Mystique smiled harshly. What a perfect revenge for causing me to fail! She laughed quietly, but the Sailor Jedi were otherwise occupied and didn't hear her.

Chouko was cradling Rene's head in her lap. "Please wake up," the girl begged. "Please!"

Next to them, Koumi was propping herself up on her elbows. Both females were scratched and abraded horribly. Koumi groaned and collapsed back to the ground. She hurt so badly; it was like acid eating into her. She opened one of her dark blue eyes and caught sight of Corellian Knight standing a few feet away with his head down. Koumi could feel the shame and disgust that surrounded the man. The guardian of silence tried to gather enough mental strength to project her thoughts through the shroud that surrounded him, but she was too weak. Instead, Koumi resulted to her least-used form of communication. "It's... okay... forgive you..." she gasped, trying to make him understand that she didn't hold his actions against him, that she understood.

Corellian Knight shook his mask-encased head as if he didn't believe her.

A hooded figure addressed Ariel. "Despite your condition, you served admirably. However, you did not destroy the Sailor Jedi! I instructed you to wipe them out. What went wrong?" He held up a cloaked arm. "Do not answer now. But in the future, be prepared to give a full account of your deeds. And continue exploiting the corruption in the midst of the Sailor Senshi."

Priire groaned internally. How many more will suffer before this ends? she wondered, desperately seeking the answer in Coruscant's turbulent skies. The skies had no answer for her as they churned with the makings of a legendary Coruscant thunderstorm....